26th-Z

Perhaps a little background… DAS stood for Distribution & Auto Service. "Distribution & Auto Service, Inc. provides vehicle processing, logistics, & marine services to the automotive industry. The company was founded in 1969 & is based in Wilmington, California. DAS was formerly operated as a subsidiary of Nissan North America. On April 30, 2005 Distribution & Auto Service, Inc. became a part of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. Distribution & Auto Service, Inc. prepped the Datsuns prior to sending them off to the dealers. The older car carriers (before Nissan had its own fleet) always had an 'acceptable' amount of loss/damage when shipping the cars from Japan. DAS, in addition to just unloading the cars and reloading them on American distribution carriers (trucks, trains and other ships), also checked for contact damage (which also took place during the loading/unloading procedure as well) & salt water damage which took place while the vehicles spent weeks in the holds of these ships. The vehicles were washed & checked to make sure that there was no interior damage and that things like the wheel covers, jack & tools, antenna, spare tire, and optional parts were in the car meaning ready for dealer distribution. DAS was primarily a distribution logistics facility however they did have the capability to perform repairs and assembly functions. What the dealer did was PDI (pre-delivery inspection) which would include waxing, installing the wheel covers, antenna, etc. removing plastic from the interior, etc. My concern with your question, Gordon, is that the A/C is not described on your window sticker. It should be. What might be a likely explanation is that the A/C was dealer installed as an option after the sale. That's entirely possible.

Yea, but Mike! Don'cha love the drama? The poor guy's thread turned into all this reminiscence about selling the Z and moving on to the next chapter. Love it! Personally, I'm back from a previous car chapter. Now, I don't necessarily agree with some of the comments about the car in question. I think it's worth every penny of the insured value. I can think of a Z that won every top award given in the Z community and it is valued at three times the $24k figure. Sure, as with any car, to achieve the top value in sale, one must find the 'right' buyer. And the "share the same vision" comment was probably the most appropriate. I would suggest marketing the car in that direction to that sort of audience. Sorry to see you split, Stephen. If I had some spare money, I'ld buy your truck.

Welcome! You'll have fun here with the low VIN guys. What's your build date? Is your car all matching numbers?

It's good to hear that the battery tray is still available and relatively cheap. I need to put one of those on my list. Originally, the clear plastic drain hose did not extend down below the frame which is why you see so many cars with frame damage in that area.

To the best of my knowledge the wiper motor cover is black plastic molded form or a black plastic bag not rubber. Lacquer thinner is pretty aggresive. Be careful that it doesn't melt the plastic.

You all probably know of Shin Yoshikawa from his impecable cut-away drawings of the Z car to name but one. Shin is also a prolific writer. We have discussed his superb book about the Toyota 2000GT, however Shin writes regularly for Nostalgic Hero magazine and was a contributing factor behind the Del Prado die-cast model racing series. Shin lives in California and operates an automotive workshop and fabrication studio. Check out Shin at http://studiotimecapsule.com/home Some time ago, Shin and his associates built an aluminum body for a Toyota 2000GT. That was a body-on-frame design and now Shin plans to build six aluminum uni-body chassis of the S30. I talked with him this morning and he tells me that four have been committed to contract. One is to be placed as a sculptural piece in the Datsun Heritage Museum. Another is going to the Nissan museum / storage facility in Zama, I believe. Two more will be built with the idea of completing them as running cars. He tells me one in Japan will receive S20 / Z432 running gear. Check out the web site which is a fun cruise if you have never been there. He is asking $60,000 in three payments of $20,000 for the aluminum body shells. Several people have commented to me about the structural integrity of such a construction, but if you read what Shin says about it, it sounds like he has taken these things into consideration.

I have not seen any of the shows, but I'ld like to comment from personal experience. I'm finding the price for just the paint job hard to swallow. I realize what the paint alone costs but the labor rate can't be $37.50 if the paint job alone is going to cost 3 times the preparation. Either we're not comparing oranges to oranges or somebody is getting ripped off. Having said that, it seems like the 80 hours for metal work and prep is low. However! I'm right there with ya on your comment about how many people we know have spent months with a body shop, Carl!

I agree. Seal the tanks. The POR product is excellent for this.

This is a really good thread that will answer a lot of points that have been mentioned. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20792&highlight=5-speed+transmissions

Sure looks like an F4W71a to me. How do you know it's a 5-speed? It's not an FS5C71a or b. I suggest a search through the archives will turn up some interesting info.

It IS rather discouraging, isn't it? When I pick up a copy of something like "Classic Motorsports" and see all the ads for MG, Triumph, Jaguar and such.

I'll be there.

Some time ago, I bought HLS30-00403 for parts. The instrument finisher, although trashed, is definitely black compared to the finisher from 26th. Same molding, just black over the chrome. Note that the actual plastic under the chrome plating is cream white (yellowed from sunlight). A long time ago when Chloe was around, I found and bought this Hitachi radio brand new in the box. The face plate is black plastic and the raised label highlights are all painted silver. Coupled with the ash trays from 26th, 27th, and 403rd - all gray plastic painted black - I am / was assuming that all the interior finishes were black. Searching through the parts books, I find instrument finisher 68830-E4100, E4101, E4600 and 68831-E4100 all applying to the year and model in our discussion. Resting my case now...

I'm having trouble getting a good picture for comparison purposes, but I have both gray instrument face plates and black ones. And I have both black and gray radio face plates also. Here is a real good shot of the instrument face plate from 26th. Obviously gray. Notice the heater switch is different from the typical fan symbol on the switch. Then, a picture from 27th with the more typical heater switch knob. Obviously gray as well. I realize that the radio has been changed in 27th, but notice that the volume control label on the face plate was painted silver whereas Jim's face plate shows no sign of the silver highlighting. I'll have to admit that at first I just attributed the gray to fading but now that you are making me take a hard look at all of this I'm inclined to agree.

These are the two map light face plates I have. The gray one at the top is out of 26th and the black one at the bottom came from a friend-of-the-Z. 27th didn't come with a map light. You will notice black paint covering the back side of the gray one. There's evidence for my case. Please notice this occurance of a gray plastic circumcized map light face plate as well as a black plastic circumcized map light face plate. In real lighting, the gray is the color of the console face from #16. The other face plate is real black. Back tomorrow after I photograph the instument finisher in 27th.

Many thanks for you reflective comments, Carl. The non-metallic paint location comment is a typical automotive manufacturing technique. You probably noticed that the 901 silver cars are that way. Part of the problem I have here is that I have achieved a college education and "we may never know" is not necessarily in my vocabulary. As I have previously indicated, through research, they were NOT repainted in California. I still have a couple of other sources to confirm and I'll let you know if that conclusion changes.

In the safe-deposit box.

Post # 19 this thread

Well that would be my first question; if they were repainted, what color were they when the came off the boat? Then there is the liability issue of selling a new car that has been repainted. Can you imagine what it would take to repaint the engine bay, for instance? The shipment repair I'm talking about would be for minor scratches / damages incurred during shipping.

Mike, My old thread was about ash trays, not the console. I agree with the pictures you posted but keep in mind that the finish on top of the chrome is old. Of course it would look gray compared to new. I'll have to go dig mine out of the box. And I agree that the map light (circumcized) and radio face plate were molded of gray plastic, but I do not agree that they were mismatched with the rest of the black interior. Hmmm...may be throwing me a loop. 26th came with the hand throttle and 27th's was either removed or never installed. All the mechanism is gone and it has been obviuosly molested.

Yes, the optional wheels do not appear to be part of the appearance / decor package. I wrote to a couple of sources that would know about the respray issue and one has replied that the S211 and SP213 Fairladys were repainted as required because of the color combination of interior / exterior. So far, to the best of my knowledge, only shipment repair painting was made in California for this conversation.

I would bet that Kats added the stickers. Both of my '69ers do not have stickers or any trace that they were once there.

I don't have an answer about the emission control standards, but British imports in 1970 had smog pump / air injection. Carl is correct - all S30 US imports (not the Canadian cars evidently) had smog pumps. Only the California imports had fuel vapor systems.

Hello all! Comment about the gray plastic interior / console pieces. They were molded in gray plastic and painted black. There is no such thing as a gray interior. If you see gray, the black finish has rubbed off.

Check out this tread http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31271&page=3&highlight=240Z+sale+values